BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
Stetson Wright has now won two PRCA Bull Riding Gold Buckles in the last three years and did so convincingly in 2022.
Wright set the bull riding single-season record with $592,144 and also added another earnings record by making $271,545 at the NFR alone, the most ever for a bull rider.
Wright was 8-for-10 to win his NFR Average crown in any event. With this year All-Around World Championship included as well, Wright now has seven Gold Buckles, all of which are not for public display.
“They’re in a gun safe, hidden away, no one will ever see them until I pull them out, they really do mean so much to me that I hardly want anybody to even look at them because they’re so hard to win,” he said. “I’m competing against the best caliber of guys maybe the PRCA has ever seen, that’s why they mean so much to me.”
With four consecutive All-Around World Titles, Wright was asked about how he compared to some of rodeo’s greats.
“Trevor Brazile, when he stopped going, he was the king of the cowboys, just like Ty Murray,” he said. “A lot of people have said you’re the next Ty Murray or Trevor Brazile, that’s not what I’m out here doing, I’m out here to be the next Stetson Wright, I’ll never compare myself to one of them.”
In 2022, Wright became first cowboy since Jim Shoulders in 1959 to win multiple World Titles in three consecutive years.
“When you keep repeating things you’ve done before and proving it’s not fluke, it’s a good feeling,” Wright said. “Bronc riding humbled me this year, but I will be back next year, and I will walk out of the Thomas & Mack with three Gold Buckles.”